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Sandy Bay is a small coastal reserve on the west Taranaki coast. It is an area of coastal dunes which has been protected and slowly restored by the Ngati Tara o Oanui Sandy Bay Conservation Society.  It is one of the few places on the Taranaki coastline where New Zealand Dotterel succesfully nest. There is a good variety of shore birds here and one of my favourite places to go for a bit of bird watching and photography.I headed off at dawn on Saturday morning and spent an absorbing couple o …

I've been meaning to make another trip to Rotakare for a while. Rotakare scenic reserve is a very special place in South Taranaki, a tribute to the local community that has managed to transform this reserve into a pest free sanctuary with a thriving native bird population. I was particularly interested in getting some photos of fernbirds (or matata) as Rotakare is renowned for its fernbird population. Its fernbird population is so healthy that it has been used as the source for translocatin …

It was a clear sunny morning today so I headed down to the Waiwhakaio river mouth to see what birds might be about. It turned out to be very much a day for ducks when I spotted a very rare grey duck (parera) as well as a number of grey/mallard hybrids which are also unusual sightings in New Plymouth. There were also a pair of paradise shelduck (putangitangi) on the river which made great photos in the soft dawn light.Pure bred grey ducks are now quite rare due to constant interbreeding with mall …

It's been a wet Autumn, often raining overnight then clear in the morning for a while then more rain later in the day.  Taranaki, coming and going in the cloud. A lot of birds about in the garden and in the valley behind our house. Beauty unfolding all around us all the time. Your Own Soul Presence Rain overnight, clearing at dawn Now a clear blue sky, sun shining Paradise shelduck flying th …